From the Syllabus

Why Must We Remember that Gender is Socially Constructed and Is Neither a Binary Nor a Biological Determination? This question launches our very first jigsaw reading. This question is quite loaded and shapes a fundamental way that we talk about gender in non-oppressive, inclusive, and socially conscious ways. We will do our very first jigsaw with this question.

We have two reading strategies for this class. Sometimes, we all read the same thing. We call that a communal assignment (like we did with the Audre Lorde reading assignment).  At other times, we use a method called a Jigsaw.  The jigsaw is a popular strategy for collaborative assignments.  It means that the article/text that you read will be different from your colleagues and so, in turn, you need to educate your colleagues about what you have studied. 

Whenever you do a jigsaw assignment, make sure that you choose the reading assignment that you like MOST.  Please also expect that your colleagues in the room will read your writing!

You will see, given the years of publication for these readings, that these are not new ideas and yet our mainstream worlds seem to engage very little of these concepts. See syllabus for writing assignment.  

Viewing Gallery:
​Basic Vocabulary Lesson

gender assignment
gender spectrum
gender fluidity
sex & gender identity
IN THE NEWS
"The Sensitive Question Of Intersex Athletes" by Melissa Block​

Your Directions & Tasks

BEFORE YOU READ: Start with the vocabulary lesson at the bottom.   This vocab lesson is not a quiz!  You need to incorporate this language into your daily understandings, not pass a test.

NOW: Choose any ONE of these readings listed below.  Click titles below and you will be directed to the specific article.
  1. Scott Coltrane: "Household Labor and the Routine Production of Gender" (2007)
  2. Martha Coventry: "The Tyranny of the Esthetic: Surgery's Most Intimate Violation"
  3. Shannon Dea: Beyond the Binary: Thinking about Sex and Gender (2016 excerpt)
  4. Anne Fausto-Sterling: "The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female are Not Enough" (1993) 
  5. Suzanne Kessler and Wendy McKenna: Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach (1978) Please note that there are two chapters in this PDF.  Choose ONE of the two chapters to write about.
  6. Suzanne Kessler: "The Medical Construction of Gender" (2008)
  7. Nathan Lents and Stacy Rosenbaum: "Mountain Gorillas Teach a Lesson about Gendered Behavior" (2016)
  8. Judith Lorber: " 'Night to His Day': The Social Construction of Gender" (1994)
  9. Betsy Lucal: "What It Means to be Gendered Me: Life on the Boundaries of a Dichotomous Gender System" (1999)
  10. Emily Martin: "The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles" (1991)
  11. Tey Meadows:  "A Rose is a Rose" (2012 excerpt)
  12. Ruth Padawer: "The Humiliating Practice of Sex-Testing Female Athletes" (2016)
  13. Laurel Richardson: "Gender Stereotyping in the English Language" (2008)
  14. Jennifer Terry: Fluid Sexes (1999 chapter)
 [NOTE: The more dated articles here use terms like hermaphrodites which we all regard as pejorative.  Please say intersex for now... until we have something better.]
Instead of reading an article/chapter, you can watch a documentary instead.  
​You must watch the ENTIRE documentary.  Here are your selections:
  The documentary, Intersexion, is best, but we don't have access to that yet.  In the meantime, we will have to use the documentary above.  But if you are curious, look at the trailer at the right.
Please note that the reading/video list on this webpage will be continually updated. Feel free to make suggestions!

Double-tap to edit.

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